diff --git a/sshfs/spec.py b/sshfs/spec.py
index 954c7bd..591d714 100644
--- a/sshfs/spec.py
+++ b/sshfs/spec.py
@@ -316,3 +316,10 @@ async def _execute(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
     def _open(self, path, *args, **kwargs):
         return SSHFile(self, path, *args, **kwargs)
+
+    @wrap_exceptions
+    async def _cat_file(self, path, **kwargs):
+        """Asynchronously fetch the contents of a file"""
+        async with self._pool.get() as channel:
+            async with channel.open(path, "rb") as f:
+                return await f.read()
diff --git a/tests/test_sshfs.py b/tests/test_sshfs.py
index 663f778..47d4c12 100644
--- a/tests/test_sshfs.py
+++ b/tests/test_sshfs.py
@@ -337,3 +337,21 @@ def test_concurrency_for_raw_commands(fs, remote_dir):
         ]
         for future in futures.as_completed(cp_futures):
             future.result()
+
+
+def test_cat_file_sync(fs, remote_dir):
+    # Define the content to write to the test file
+    test_content = b"Test content for cat_file"
+    test_file_path = remote_dir + "/test_file.txt"
+
+    # Write content to the file synchronously
+    with open(test_file_path, "wb") as f:
+        f.write(test_content)
+
+    # Use the cat_file method to read the content back synchronously
+    read_content = fs.cat_file(test_file_path)
+
+    # Verify the content read is the same as the content written
+    assert (
+        read_content == test_content
+    ), "The content read from the file does not match the content written."